daughter. grand father. >> yes. who doesn't care about women's reproductive choices. >> exactly and it's clear and it's understandable. >> rob reiner, that, understandable. that is a perfect last word for this particular word." thanks for joining me tonight. "the ed show" is up next. good evening, americans. welcome to "the ed show." 22 days until the eve of the election. president obama supporters are begging him to take off the gloves and fight for the middle class. this is "the ed show." let's get to work. >> this morning i cast my vote early for barack obama. >> the obama campaign is fired up. the president is ready to go. and mitt romney is ready to keep the lies rolling. >> six different studies have said this is entirely doable. >> very questionable. some of them are blogs.

>> richard wolffe on the expectations for the president going into the debate. and former ohio governor ted strickland on the new lie mitt romney is cooking up. >> unemployment is higher today than when president obama took office. we created zero jobs. paul ryan meets the takers in a homeless clinic. he staged a photo op and it was a total bust. and mitt romney's vision for america is playing out right now in illinois. >> the only motivation is they want more money. >> since auto workers are in new york protesting the republican nominee, tonight my interview with a worker. good to have you with us. thanks for watching. the uproar over president obama's debate performance has subsided. we are back to square one. tomorrow might be one of the most important dates on the calendar. the polls show the race is dead even once again. president obama has maintained his lead in several key swing

states like ohio and nevada. the numbers have stabilized. but all the attention turns to the town hall-style debate tomorrow night. the obama campaign launched a new ad to define the president's message in the home stretch. >> every president inherits challenges. few have faced so many. four years later our enemies have been brought to justice. our heroes are coming home. assembly lines are humming again. there are still challenges to meet, children to educate, a middle class to rebuild, but the last thing we should do is turn back now. >> i'm barack obama and i approve this message. >> part of the strategy is to emphasize his accomplishments of the first term. another part is to flat out motivate supporters. michelle obama tweeted a picture of her absentee ballot to

encourage early voting. the campaign is also drumming up visibility with big name surrogates. bruce springsteen will rally supporters in iowa. he will be joined by bill clinton at an event in ohio on thursday. celebrities like scarlet johansson and eva longoria are featured in a video under a romney presidency. the obama campaign also rolled out a web ad with jay-z encouraging young people to cast their votes. these are important messages for voter outreach. the most important thing, it's so important to hear from the candidate himself. the president's supporters, they want to see his a game tomorrow night. they want to see a different guy answering for the middle class. president obama has a shot to close the door on mitt romney. it's a shot he didn't take in

the last debate and needs to take it this time. according to nbc's kirsten welker sources say the president will probably bring up mitt romney's 47% comments during tomorrow's debate. the comments from the hidden fund-raiser video are from the soft underbelly of the campaign. it's the best attack to show the american people mitt romney is not acceptable as the choice for president because he says one thing behind closed doors and something else on numerous occasions other places. joe biden used the comments to his advantage during the debate against paul ryan last week. a new ad uses romney's comments against him. one actor does not go easy on the republican nominee. >> my dad was the governor of michigan and was the head of a car company. but he was born in mexico. had he been born of mexican parents, he might have a better shot.

>> your policies suck. being latino wouldn't win you the election but saying jokingly that you wish you were might actually lose it for you. >> the president needs to go after mitt romney but he can't look like a pit bull on stage. that's a tough order. it's a fine line to walk. the debate will not be the same as it was two weeks ago. the podiums are gone. the candidates will have to look comfortable and welcoming to a room full of undecided voters. mitt romney showed in the last debate he can make the most of his rehearsed lines to connect with regular voters. >> i have had the occasion of meeting people across the country. i was in dayton, ohio, and a woman grabbed my arm and said i've been out of work, can you help me? and a rally in denver, a woman

said my husband has had four jobs in three years, part-time jobs, he's lost his most recent job and we have now lost our home. can you help us? and the answer is yes. we can help. but it's going to take a different path. >> and what about those workers in illinois. that story coming up later in the broadcast. does romney feel the same way about them? president obama won't win any points for attacking mitt romney personally. the stakes are high for the president because the road is not going to get any easier after the debate. here's the landscape. romney raised $170 million in september before the first debate. there's also untold millions of money to funnel into super

pac ad campaigns. the cash onslaught will hit president obama hard. he can't afford to be playing catch up after another lackluster debate performance. he needs to get it done tomorrow night. we also cannot forget the anger and hatred coming from the fringes of the right wing. the son of wisconsin senator senate candidate tommy thompson reminded us that birtherism is alive and well. >> we had the opportunity to send president obama back to chicago. or kenya. >> you don't need to look far to see the extremists. a report from wisconsin, an anti-obama activist distributing hundreds of dvds. the disks contain a movie called "dreams for my real father." a wild conspiracy accusing president obama of having communist parents. the movie was sent to swing voters in ohio. about a million of them. our colleagues were sent this photo from western pennsylvania. it says to vote for the

americans romney and ryan. at an ohio event, a t-shirt saying "put the white back in the white house." the romney campaign denounced the message. these extremists will do anything to keep president obama from winning. the president was always going to know that it was going to be a really tough fight in this campaign. tomorrow he needs to do one basic thing. inspire his supporters. people who watch these debates want to know that their guy is on the same page with them. they don't want to be screaming tomorrow night saying this. that's really how it was in the first debate. the president needs to ease the memory of two weeks ago and show that he will fight to the very end for this country and for the middle class. every night on this show i say four words, let's get to work. tomorrow president obama is on the clock and he has his work cut out for him. get your cell phones out. we want to know what you think. tonight's question, will

president obama win tomorrow night's debate? text "a" for yes and "b" for no to 622639. you can always leave a comment on our blog. i'm joined tonight by richard wolffe, msnbc political analyst, which got a brand new look today. and it looks really, really good. great to have you with us. tomorrow night, how big is it for the president? how high are the stakes? can he afford to have anywhere near the performance like he had in the last debate? >> no, i don't think he can and i don't think anyone around him expect him to turn in that kind of performance. why? because he's been working hard at his prep, which he didn't do last time around because he takes the criticism to heart and he knows how he messed up here. this is town hall, his natural skills of communication and empathy maybe have a different

platform. the difficult thing will be to pivot back to mitt romney and say who is the real mitt romney? which guy is here on this stage and where were you for the last two years? that's the pivot that's hard to do when you're trying to convince undecided voters. but as you point out, that's just a sliver of the election out there. he's also got to reach in a turnout election, he's got to motivate the base voters in the democratic party who may be not as enthusiastic as four years ago. >> the polls are back to where we were before the first debate. and obama supporters want to feel good. i mean people that watch the debates, they want to see their candidate do well. how much damage would be done if they don't come away feeling good? >> enthusiasm is a key measure. one thing i compare the election to is 2004. not just because of the

characters involved or whatever you think, but the polls track closely. on one issue, if you look at the polls eight years ago, bush and kerry were tied after two debates. the big difference was that john kerry actually was behind when it came to registered voters. this president is way ahead compared to where john kerry was. the likely voter sample is working against this president. we can debate how that's done, but it does suggest that enthusiasm is a significant problem for him. that's where a strong debate performance kicks in. >> ironically in '04, it was ohio. it is ohio again. how aggressive does the president need to be on mitt romney in this town hall-style format? is this in his wheelhouse? and could he go overboard? >> the big argument that romney has put all his money on for the last two years has been about the economy.

the reason ohio is doing so much better for this president and for democrats in general is because of the economy. the president actually has a good economic story to tell right now. he's been burdened by expectations. obviously, there's a lot of people out there looking for work. but the bigger trend in the election isn't about debate performance or the latest ad. it's about rising economic confidence. we're seeing it across the board and in the president's approval numbers. so he needs to be forceful not just about mitt romney, but about how far this country has traveled in four years. >> we're seeing the good numbers and the trends and also the denial coming from the conservatives. great to have you with us. remember to answer tonight's question. share your thoughts on twitter @edshow and on facebook. we always want to know what you think. coming up, a romney adviser runs into trouble trying to sell the lies to fox news.

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coming up, the romney campaign's strategy of lie and deny. can't stand up to the facts. former governor ted strickland joins me to discuss the lies and a whole lot more. paul ryan is getting some heat for his ohio soup kitchen photo op. now the president of the charity said the candidate didn't have permission to be there in the first place. the candidates gear up for a second debate. can the president prove his credit on foreign policy in the wake of the benghazi attack? i'll visit with howard fineman and michelle goldberg on that. we are coming right back.

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welcome back to "the ed show." thanks for watching tonight. the math still isn't adding up for mitt romney so the lies are just piling up. this is their campaign. here's romney adviser ed gillespie trying to defend romney's tax plan. >> very questionable. some of them are blogs, some from the aei. >> these are very credible sources. >> one of them is from a blogger to george w. bush. these are hardly nonpartisan studies. >> if you look at harvard and other studies, they are very credible sources for economic analysis. >> you wouldn't say aie is a conservative think tank? >> it's a right-leaning think tank. that doesn't make it not credible. >> those six studies don't hold water.

besides the blog posts, two of the studies had to change romney's tax plan to make it work. these aren't the only numbers the romney camp is lying about. there was vice presidential candidate paul ryan's claim about unemployment in the debate. >> you know what the unemployment rate in scranton is? it's 10%. you know what it was when you guys came in? 8.5%. that's how it's going all around america. >> rob portman was asked about it and he defended ryan. >> what he was saying is the truth. unemployment is higher today than it was when he took office. in the meantime, we have created net zero jobs. >> just throw it out there. it doesn't matter. something is going to stick up here. nothing like backing up lies with more lies. unemployment, my friends, is not higher today than when president obama took office.

that's a fact. there have been 325,000 net jobs since president obama's inauguration. despite all the ground he had to make up from the bush recession, he's created 31 months of private sector job growth and reduced the federal payroll. the obama recovery has produced 4.4 million jobs overall, 5 million in the private sector. let's turn to former governor ted strickland, an obama 2012 campaign co-chair. it's about ohio. do the people believe these guy lies? >> i am so proud of ohio because we aren't believing the lies and that's why the president maintains a lead in ohio. ohioans know this economy is coming back in large part because of the recovery act, because of the auto rescue. this president has done a good job. we're on our way forward. we don't want to go back to the failed policies of the bush

administration. >> they are claiming the unemployment numbers, you're cooking the books. they can't stand the fact that the unemployment rate has dropped below 8%. there is a sense that it's headed all in the right direction. but do you feel that independent voters in your state of ohio get that? >> well, apparently they do. for several months now, the president has maintained a relatively small, but consistent lead. that lead is holding firm during these closing dates of the campaign. i'm proud to say that no republican has ever won the presidency without winning ohio. and i think ohio is going to deprive mitt romney the chance to be the president. >> the numbers on the tax plan don't add up and he doesn't give specifics. how's he going to navigate through this? >> he doesn't want to confess. >> you have a sitting united states senator right there backing what paul ryan is saying. you know rob portman.

>> i know rob very well. but the fact is -- >> he's lying. >> the only way that the tax plan works, the only thing he can do that really has money in savings is the mortgage deduction. it's the charitable deduction. it's the education deduction. it's the health care deduction. and mitt romney does not have the courage to tell the american people what he's planning. but ed, if he were to take on those deductions, those deductions strike at the heart of the middle class and that's why he's unwilling to tell us the truth. and so that's why we're getting all of this fuzzy math. >> according to a keizer foundation study, a medicare voucher system would raise premiums. the romney campaign says it wasn't based on their plan but they don't provide details on it either. so how do the democrats keep up the fight against an opponent that lies and denies so often?

>> well, we've got to tell the truth. the fact is, if we just look at this romney budget. paul ryan was chosen to be the vice presidential candidate in large part because of his budget. what does his budget do? it doesn't achieve balance. it would slash medicaid to the states. it would cut pell grants. all the programs so important to the middle class. and now mitt romney is trying to walk away from some of that and appear to be a moderate. but we know in ohio, we have watched this man, we have heard him talk about the 47% and that includes a lot of ohioans and a lot of people from wisconsin and virginia and these battleground states. that's why mitt romney is in trouble. >> this misinformation is in a fever pitch. are you concerned about these dvds being delivered into ohio? >> i'm concerned about all of this. but these kinds of dirty tricks,

i think, may have a slight impact. but people are common sense folk. at least in my state of ohio. we understand who is on our side and a man who has a swiss bank account who won't reveal his income tax returns, who talks about enjoying firing people who has elevators for car, who talks about his wife's multiple cadillacs, who is captured on video really talking in the most disrespectful way about hardworking americans, veterans and retired folks and students. there's a scripture verse in the book of proverbs that says, as a man think earth in his heart, so is he. we saw something about mitt romney's heart in that video and it wasn't a pretty picture. >> ted strickland, great to have you with us. coming up, paul ryan stops by a soup kitchen but he didn't exactly pitch in and help out. e.j. dionne will join me for the discussion.

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this is a story about being a phoney, meaning not real.

over the weekend paul ryan was on the campaign trail in youngstown, ohio. on his way to the airport, ryan stopped by a local soup kitchen. >> the vice presidential candidate pitched in at a youngstown soup kitchen following his forum. he helped wash dishes after lunch was served at the dining hall. >> hold the phone. according to "the washington post" by the time the vice presidential nominee and his family had arrived, the food had been served, the hall was empty and the volunteers appeared to have already cleaned up. but that didn't stop ryan from missing out on a great photo op. as "the new york times" reports, the family put on aprons and washed several large pans, though they didn't appear needing to be washed. once the clean dishes got another wash as "the washington post" report, ryan was on his way. he talked to some men who appeared to be homeless but reporters were not allowed to

listen in on the exchange. i wonder what ryan told those men he talked to. he probably didn't tell them he plans to turn medicaid into a block grant program to voucher medicare to slash billions from food assistance programs. now the head of the ohio charity tells "the washington post" the romney campaign ramrodded their way into the soup kitchen and the ryan visit has caused him all kinds of grief. the president of the mahmoud hoe knee county points out, we're a faith-based organization. we are apolitical because our funding is from private donations. he's worried that ryan's visit will alienate or upset donors adding, the photo-op they did wasn't even accurate. he did nothing. he just came in here to get his picture taken at the dining

hall. i'm joined by msnbc contributor e.j. dionne, author of the book "our divided political heart." e.j., what do you make of this? is this just one of the days on the campaign trail that screwed up? what do you make of it? >> we should honor the saint vincent society. my late dad was active in the society. if he wanted to do a serious effort to lift up their work and say we need this kind of work in the country, more power to him. but if you're going to have a photo op, do it right. don't cause them trouble. i don't think that's the most important part of the story. there's a real metaphor here. when you look at the ryan budget, the photo op points you to the ryan budget. and the budget 62% of the cuts are in programs for low-income people.

now faith-based organizations are fantastic, they do great work. but the people who run them will tell you they cannot pick up all of the slack that there would be if the government had cuts of that kind. you had simone campbell on who pointed out that there's a study by bread for the world showing if you took the food stamp cuts, every church would have to come up with $50,000. most churches don't have that money. you shouldn't be cutting people off food stamps and expecting groups to pick up all that slack. >> ryan has said that 30% of americans want a welfare state. 30% of people are takers. how does he square those comments with this visit here? what was it all about? >> i think it's been clear for awhile, especially since the 47% video, that the republicans said whoops, where did that

compassionate conservatism go. we better show we have a heart somehow because those comments are hurting us. they don't want to talk about budgets. they want to put out feel-good words and mitt romney offered some of those in the first debate. and they want to give us pictures that say we have big hearts. well, you can't make bricks without straw. show us what your priorities are. some of it should come from voluntarily contributions, but we built these programs because we know we're not collectively generous enough to help the left out. we're trying to help people get back on their feet. i think they are just trying to hide what their budgets would actually do. >> youngstown, ohio, has been a depressed area for decades under numerous administrations. how can ryan make the case for

policies when the people are struggling there? he wants to cut them even further. there's also a sense of realness about a candidate to go in and actually interact with people. here he is doing a pots and pans kind of thing. nobody is around. you can tell the kitchen is already cleaned up. what does that say about his judgment? >> if you're going to do that, if you want to show compassion, talk to folks. talk to the people who are homeless. people who do this work all the time develop real relationships and discover that this is for the grace of god. you can understand a lot of people are poor not because they lack gumption or not willing to work but because they have run into hard times or some tragedy in their life. that is very useful for politicians to hear because they spend way too much time with very rich people who give them money. >> and i find it very interesting he goes into a soup kitchen for the homeless in youngstown, ohio, does the

photo-op, yet this campaign has denied going along and meeting with sister simone campbell. she's put out the invitation. it would seem to me that would be the real part of the story. e.j. dionne, great to have you with us. there's a lot more coming up. stay with us. you get a deduction for taking a plant overseas? i have been in business for 25 years. i have no idea what you're talking about. >> mitt romney lied about shipping jobs to china. and the people of illinois are living proof. workers at bain-owned sensata are about to lose their jobs, but they are not going down without a fight. we'll meet one of them next. sherrod brown destroyed his opponent at their first debate. we'll bring you the tape. and mitt romney is throwing the long ball on libya. >> he should be exploiting it. >> coming up, how the president needs to handle the benghazi question at the debate.

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introduce their transition team and the next bullet out of their meeting was by the way by the end of 2012 all the jobs in this plant will be moved to china. >> welcome back to "the ed show." we first brought you the story of technologies back in july on "the ed show." sensata is a car manufacturing company in freeport, illinois. it's majority owned by bain capital. the company is set to close its illinois factory by the end of 2012 and outsource the jobs to china. it puts workers in a desperate situation. >> they informed us they would be bringing some of the people from china for us to train. like a slap in the face. just think how you would feel. you're taking my job but then i'll have to train you. >> the company set a record for profits last year.

we make the very best product in the world in that plant. and their only motivation is they want more money. >> sensata had record profits last year and it's not good enough. workers are protesting their jobs being shipped to china. they set up a camp called bain port. it's starting to gain national attention. dick durbin announced he will visit bain port tomorrow morning. he's the first federal official to visit. mitt romney's campaign says he's no longer responsible for bain's management decisions. however, "the new york times" reports it's possible for romney to profit from the outsourcing because he still owns $8 million worth of bain funds. the story is important because i think it paints a clear picture of who and what mitt romney's economy is all about and what he really cares about. what's happening in freeport, illinois, is about greed. it's about turning a profit at the expense of hard working americans and families who are suffering because of this decision.

mitt romney has done this his entire life and now it's catching up to him. no matter how hard he tries to spin the facts, this is who he really is. what's happening to the workers in illinois is the economic model mitt romney believes in. "the ed show" will be in freeport, illinois, doing our show this friday night to bring you more details about what's happening to these workers and families in this community. i'm honored to take the show on the road. our crew will be there this friday night in freeport, illinois. one worker is one of hundreds whose jobs at the plant are being shipped to china. she will join other workers outside the debate tomorrow night protesting mitt romney and bain. mary jo, great to have you with us tonight. >> thanks for having me.

>> i want you to tell us, what has your family gone through? >> it's been an emotional roller coaster ever since they told us they were going to shut our freeport plant. my husband worked there for 18 years and it was devastating the fact that we didn't know what we were going to do. the fact the both of us were going to lose our jobs. we have three small children. we have bills just like everybody else. fortunately, my husband was able to find another job, but it's still going to be hard with him being the sole provider. >> so you have gone from two incomes to one income. do you have health insurance? >> yes, we do. >> finally. what's the mood of the town there in freeport? is the town -- what kind of an impact is this going to have? >> it's going to have a huge impact. half of freeport works at sensata. once it closes, it will be devastating. everybody is walking around slumped over, not knowing what

they are going to do. >> you were somewhat akin to liking mitt romney, were you not? >> yes, i was. >> tell us about that. >> i was like everybody else. he's going to do it. he's going to create american jobs. he says that's what he's going to do. that's what his whole campaign was about. i'm going to create american jobs. when i found out that he owned bain capital and bain capital owned sensata i was furious. >> what do you think when you see him talk about american jobs on the campaign trail and talk about our economy yet this is happening? >> to be honest with you, he's a bold-faced liar. he's going out there saying i'm going to create american jobs when, no, he's not. he's profiting off of jobs going overseas. >> what was it like to have the chinese workers come learn to do the jobs that your workers were doing? >> it was hard. having to train somebody to take your job and you don't have any

control over it, that was probably the hardest thing i've had to do. >> did they really take down the american flag and put up the chinese flag? >> they didn't put up the chinese flag. we put it across the street in bain port. >> what's going to happen to freeport, illinois? >> it's going to become a ghost town. that's one major company in freeport. we only have two sole big companies. and once this one goes down, i mean, it's going to be hard for anybody to find a job because there's nothing around there. >> normally when a company is not doing well the companies know it. was it record profits? and that makes it hard to understand? >> we don't understand. i mean, from my understanding is, they liked freeport. they liked the location.

but it was we need more money. >> mary jo, thank you for coming in tonight. appreciate it so much. "the ed show" will be live from freeport, illinois, on friday. we will be broadcasting from bain port, highlighting the devastating effects outsourcing. you don't want to miss it. we'll get it in detail. coming up, ohio senator sherrod brown takes his republican challenger to task to saying he wouldn't have supported the automobile rescue which saved thousands of ohio jobs? a highlight from their first debate, next.

up next, sherrod brown knocked it out of the park in his debate. we'll have the highlights. join me for a preview of the second presidential debate. stay tuned. vjeq

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president obamis still leading in the polls in ohio because he stood up for middle class workers when the automobile loan came through and the industry was on the verge of

collapse. today senator sherrod brown had his first debate against republican challenger josh mandel and he took the opportunity to show us what standing up to the middle class looked like. >> it's not just about the big assembly plants in toledo. it's about the seat frames made in lorain, the air bag components, the steel made in this city. it's also about the local diner and the hardware store owner. this job is about real people with real families and real problems in and real hopes and dreams. yet josh mandel said my vote on the auto rescue was un-american. un-american. i call that vote doing my job to fight for their jobs. >> senator brown has been the target of more outside spending than any other member of the senate in this election cycle.

republican groups have flooded the state with more than $20 million to defeat him which means if senator brown wins, it could be the costliest loss for republicans. senator brown stands up for american workers when it matters most. when you stand with american workers, you can't go wrong and you won't lose. tonight in our survey, i asked will president obama win tomorrow night's debate? 94% said yes, 6% said no. coming up, president obama gets pushed on foreign policy. find out how he handled it the last time and what he'll be up against tomorrow night when it comes to foreign policy. stay with us.

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♪ we're lucky, it's not every day you find a companion as loyal as a subaru. love. it's what makes a subaru, a subaru. pakistan is unable or unwilling to hunt down bin laden and take him out, then we should. senator mccain suggests that somehow, you know, i'm green behind the ears and i'm just spouting off and he's somber and responsible. >> thank you very much. >> senator mccain, this is the guy who sang bomb, bomb, bomb iran and called for the annihilation of north korea. >> president obama showed how tough he can be on foreign policy during the debate with john mccain four years ago. the president is going to have

to prove himself. the republicans are accusing the obama administration of the attack on the consulate in benghazi. there are legitimate questions about the attack, but the republicans claim there's a cover up. tonight secretary of state hillary clinton announced that she's taking full responsibility for the benghazi attack. secretary clinton told nbc news "we did everything we could to keep our people safe, which is my primary responsibility." the attack might be tough for romney to resist tomorrow night. remember, romney told donors at a fundraiser he would look for a crisis to exploit. today his friend rudy giuliani agreed. >> there's a cover up here. they are trying to run out the clock.

this administration is so disengaged we need another administration to protect us. >> here's the problem for romney. president obama has a good foreign policy record to run on. bin laden is dead, our troops are out of iraq, we have a date certain to pull troops out of afghanistan, the president proved himself on foreign policy in the 2008 debate and he's going to have to do it again tomorrow night. i'm joined by michelle goldberg, writer for "newsweek" and also howard fineman, great to have both of you with us tonight. howard, will secretary of state hillary clinton's comments help the president in any way? >> no, they will not. as a matter of fact, having hillary clinton step up and take full responsibility, whatever that precisely means, just makes it look more political. certainly in the eyes of republicans. and will be considered fresh

meat for the republicans to go after. you can be sure that mitt romney will go after it as hard as he can, as fast as he can, in part because his people love it. because they can try to make it a question of character and because joe biden gave them an opening last week by saying that the white house and he and the president knew nothing about it, which sounded like explaining slightly too much. so you can expect the president to be attacked on it and i expect the president to be able to give a pretty good and very thorough and convincing answer. if he doesn't, it will be a problem. >> all right, michelle, how should the president handle benghazi when it comes up in the debate? >> more broadly, i never understood why obama doesn't go on the attack on foreign policy more generally and kind of say, you know, do you want another war? what are they proposing to do in syria, in iran, beyond what we have already done? biden was effective in doing

that. he should definitely do that now. in benghazi, there was a real intelligence failure that he can only kind of apologize for and promise to avenge. but one of the distortions you seem to hear from the republicans is that this was somehow the new libyan government was complicit in the attack and that we installed a less-friendly regime, which is a complete distortion. one of the most hopeful moments in the middle east was after the attack when the people of benghazi rose up and went and disarmed the militias. it's one of the most pro-american populations in the region. that was the premise of the conservative people. >> all right. howard, how high are the stakes for the president tomorrow night?

>> well, it's a cliche to say the stakes are high when debates take place, but this one truly is because of his performance last time around. so what he has to do is to show up, to look like he wants the job and like it's an urgent matter that he be reelected for the good of all americans. he needs to explain why a second term is necessary and logical and he has to also do more to explain what progress has been made. there's been some good economic numbers lately. he has to talk about those without sounding like the problem is solved. he has to ask the question of who is mitt romney? mitt romney has to be called to account for his vagueness, for his evasions and flip-flops and his shape-shifting nature, which to some undecided voters i think is still making them hesitate.

the president needs to do that while appealing in a town hall setting. essentially for the task of support, to get the people in the town hall behind him demanding answers from mitt romney. >> michelle, the format, does it play to his wheelhouse? >> i think it does, although it makes it a little harder to do one of the things he has to do which is convince people that mitt romney is a liar without using the word liar. it's not a format that's conducive to confrontation, but it's a format -- he's good at connecting with people one-on-one in a way that romney historically hasn't been. >> ed, i've been told by people who deal with these debates that